Date:21/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/21/stories/2004092107420500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Innovative technologies to check corrosion stressed

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, SEPT. 20. National laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Reserach (CSIR) like the Central Electro-Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) should work in liaison with universities and colleges for the development of science and technology, the

University Grants Commission (UGC) Vice-Chairman, V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, has said.

Quality education

Delivering the inaugural address at the 12th National Congress on Corrosion Control being organised by the National Corrosion Council of India (NCCI) and the Karaikudi-based CECRI, he noted that progress of science and technology was the only source of development for the country and only by strengthening quality of education and post-graduate institutions could large number of scholars be produced.

Corrosion was the gradual destruction of chemical, biological and other processes and the science of corrosion also dealt with the theoretical aspects of oxidation and reduction, bio-fouling, surface engineering and concrete structures. "Corrosion is a global concern. Corrosion audit is essential to the economy at all levels. It is a perennial problem encountered by all our natural resources and study of corrosion and aspects of its control are very topical,'' Dr. Pillai stated and called for innovative technologies to tackle the problem.

Call for more facts

The Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), K.R. Kishore, who presided over the inaugural, wanted the seminar to throw light on the cost involved and how effectively corrosion could be controlled, since the VPT was more prone to the problem. He also wanted to know how it would benefit building activity and how marine structures should be protected.

``On our own shore equipment, we spend around three to five per cent of the operational costs which work out to Rs.8 crores to Rs.12 crores,'' Mr. Kishore revealed.

Earlier welcoming the gathering, the NCCI chairman and Deputy Director of CECRI, N. Palaniswamy, said that the loss was multi-faceted and accounted for two per cent of the GDP in India last year, which amounted to around Rs.50,000 crores. "Even if we reduce the loss by 50 per cent or 25 per cent, we can save a lot,'' he pointed out.